Sunday, March 17, 2013

Rue Morgue 200: The Blob 1988

This is one of my few "cheats" on the Rue Morgue 200 list. I have seen The Blob before, in fact, many, many times before. It was one of the important horror films of my youth, along with The Lost Boys and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. I must have watched this 100 times at slumber parties. I haven't seen it in 20 years. Yes, I am that freaking old.

I didn't love it because I thought Kevin Dillon was hot (gross) but because Shawnee Smith was such an awesome final girl (I still love Shawnee Smith: one of my favorite horror chicks.). Shawnee plays Meg, a popular cheerleader in this small town, which I first thought was in the Midwest, but turns out it is in Northern California somewhere (where I am from!). Kevin Dillon is Brian, the town rebel who wears a Michael Jackson poofy shirt under this leather jacket. This was the 80s. Things like that happened. When Meg goes on a date she wears pearls. Seriously. It was an awesome time.

A meteor hits town and all of a sudden people are being eaten by pink goop (not Gwyneth Paltrow goop, but that would be equally terrifying). Meg and Brian are thrown together because they are the only two people who really know what is going on. Of course, every adult in this town is an idiot and it is up to the rebel and the cheerleader to save the day. So classic!

Couple of adult grown up thoughts about this film. It holds up incredibly well. Some of the special effects are a bit cheeseball, but everything else is really well done. I forgot how gory this film was! I am surprised I liked it as much as a kid (OK, teenager) because I was not a gorehound. Even as an adult I found myself thinking "This is fucking gory!" The writers capture small town America very well. I should have know the minute I saw Jeffrey DeMunn show up as the Sheriff that Frank Darabont was involved in some way! He was! He wrote The Blob and Dream Warriors! Without knowing it my young self was a huge fan of Darabont! But I still agree him leaving The Walking Dead was a good idea. Send hate mail to P.O. Box: I don't give a shit: The Walking Dead is better without him, Palo Alto, California 94306. Two final adult thoughts: The Blob is very respectful of the source material and in many ways a throwback to 1950's sci-fi horror, and....